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Cypress
Cypress is a man defined by contradictions. He is a stranger from the Midwest in a homegrown Maryland gaming group. He complains endlessly about League of Legends, despite being one of the best players in the group and one of the only ones who plays ranked. He prides himself on "calling other people on their bullshit", and yet his own antics are more reviled than almost anyone else's on the server. He is cantankerous and unruly, but completely accepts Jaleel's leadership of the Old Guard and the Big Three. He sits alone in the ruins of Weeb Nation for hours on end, waiting for people to join, but refuses any invitation to participate in Temporary Empire. In summation, Cypress is an acquired taste. Though he has some redeeming qualities (mastery of all games, an abundance of Avatar trivia, the ability to take a joke, loyalty to Jaleel that verges on the homoerotic), these usually go overlooked because of how rampant his callousness is. He casually throws around slurs, has no interest in new joiners, and prioritizes his own pleasure over everyone else's. Despite barely participating in Temporary Empire, he stereotypes all of its members as annoying and unlikeable, which ironically leads to them perceiving him the same way. This callousness, coupled with Cypress's extremely privileged position within the original group, has led him to adopt a Social Darwinist view of the community. Other people have to earn their position through survival of the fittest, and if they can't deal with @everyone spam, lack of acknowledgement or common ground, and the general obnoxiousness of the group, then that's their fault and they don't belong. Obviously, this attitude led to many new joiners becoming Hidden Ones during the days of Weeb Nation, and as such Cypress was stripped of all power and prestige when Temporary Empire was founded. A Glimmer of Hope For a time, Max and Davis believed that the picture they had of Cypress was an incomplete one. After all, despite his rough edges, he had earned the absolute loyalty of Nico and William. Perhaps underneath the prejudices and abrasiveness and screaming, Cypress could be a very insightful and dedicated friend. He did seemingly consider the other members of the Old Guard to be kindred spirits, and late at night he could almost be mistaken for philosophical in conversation. Maybe his rejection of Temporary Empire wasn't because he pined for the past or held a grudge; maybe he just didn't like the idea of joining an unfinished community, where no one could really be themselves because everyone is a stranger. Perhaps the only reason Cypress hated Tempire and Tempire hated Cypress was because he never participated enough for them to get to know each other. If only this miscommunication could be resolved, then Cypress could finally become the valued member of the community we all knew he could be. The Hope Dies (Painfully) This optimism died a slow, painful death. Cypress was completely uninterested in Tempire's community, and every time the idea of him getting to know them better was proposed, he bitterly rebuked both the server and the people in it. For months, Max tried to convince him to give Temporary Empire a chance, but Cypress never considered the idea for a second. To him, everything in Tempire was inferior to Weeb Nation, lacking in personality, tolerable people, and "fun". He particularly despised David, Davis, Sayvion, and Theodore, and stereotyped the entire community as being no different from those four people. Even when invited to play games, he refused, even demanding that certain tags be removed from him so that they couldn't ping him with summons anymore. Only after the death of the Weeb Nation Discord did Cypress finally even give Tempire a passing glance. By then, months of spouting venomous rhetoric had taken its toll, and Cypress was incapable of seeing the good in Temporary Empire. He stayed around only long enough to throw his hat in the ring for the Tempire election as a joke before he returned to inactivity. Given that he preferred the arduous struggle of making an entirely new server to the comparatively easy process of migrating to Temporary Empire, it's clear that Cypress will never stop hating this server. All we can do is wait until he tires himself out and leaves.Category:The Old Guard Category:The Big Three Category:League of Legends